Monday, August 22, 2016, ACA National Rally at 7 Feathers

I was feeling a bit conspicuous boondocking in the mall parking lot, with all of the people walking and biking by us.  I overheard a comment about the "haves and the have-nots" and pictured an angry mob of 99 percenters spray-painting graffiti on our coach.  So we were happy to leave and heading to the ACA Rally made it even better.  It was a short 98.6 miles (79,506.9 total) to Canyonville, OR where the Seven Feathers Casino operated a very nice RV Resort.

Mesa RV brought 7 new coaches.  Our favorite was the 2017 Eagle which sold.  David asked Al to take good care of it so we could buy it from him in ten years.

We had the opportunity to be ambassadors for the Southeast Chapter and help some prospective new members with their first-time national rally experience.  John and Pat were parked next to us and call Port St. Lucie, FL home.  Another couple, Lorraine and Mike, sold their home and bought their first coach to become full-timers about two months ago.  Since there was no one present to represent the Happy Wanderers (an ACA chapter for full-timers) we were happy to be ambassadors for them as well.  Monday night we enjoyed "heavy hors d'oeuvers" that included some mighty tasty treats.

Tuesday started with a huge breakfast.  We were so full we skipped lunch.  Later, we enjoyed a potluck dinner and a DJ played quite a variety of favorites until well into the evening.  Can you tell Bob was enjoying the line dancing?

Wednesday we rode the open air trolley to sample wines at three local wineries.  Lorraine used her first-timer status to get us on the same tour.  At our first stop, Melrose Wineries, we sampled wines and had a nice meal including pulled pork and yummy potato salad paired with our choice of wine.

At our second stop, owner/winemaker, Jim Delfino, discussed the finer points of operating a vineyard while I wandered through the grapes. They were just about ready for harvest. 

At Tesoaria they had a dark red named "Bull's Blood" that I could hardly see through.  It was mighty tasty!  I did, however, manage to resist the urge to buy any bottles - it was all just a little too pricey for my unsophisticated palette.

Wednesday night we were treated to a catered BBQ.  Burgers with all of the fixins' and hot dogs.  Unfortunately, the evening's entertainment was a no-show, so we missed the authentic tribal drums and dancing.

Thursday we were on our own but had a little social get together with all of the underrepresented chapters.  It was good to have a night where we were not tempted to overeat!

There were big doin's Friday night starting with yet another catered meal.  Of course, I ate way too much again even though I only loaded up one plate and had just one piece of cake.

I think everything the mentalist/magician, Hart Keene, did after dinner completely baffled me.  Below you can see Glenn holding a flashlight so we could see the sewing needles Hart put in his mouth and swallowed. Later he swallowed some thread and when he pulled it back out all of the needles were tied evenly spaced along it. Extremely entertaining and highly memorable.

The entertainment committee outdid themselves with Hart Keene.  What a show!

The evening was capped off with several drawings that helped to raise money for the ACA scholarship fund.  There was a lot of excitement over the drawing for a beautiful Eagle quilt.  Bob and Becky really wanted that quilt.  They bought a lot of tickets and managed to have four out of five of the tickets for the final drawing. The fifth ticket was auctioned to the group.  Some of Bob's "friends" decided to see just how much he really wanted that last ticket.  They bid him up to several hundreds of dollars before finally letting him have it.  I think the Scholarship fund did quite well for the evening.